Evening Star Newspaper, March 17, 1929, Page 38

2 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. EUNDAY........March 17, 1020 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company | Jusing Office: otk O :p". e ] ce: st 43 Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Building. Eurobean Ofice, 14 Regent 8. London Rate by Carrier Within the City. 45¢ ger month | 80c per month 85¢ per month .5¢ per copy month. eacn or telephone 58) d Sunday Star ays). thi 1 by mail Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Ms:ryllnd and Virginia. w All Other States and Canada. Dally #nd Sunday..1 yr., $1200: 1 Daily only . 28.00: 1 mo., Sunday only . $5.00; 1 mo.. Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Assoctated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all rews als- patches credited o it or not otherwise cred- ited in this paper and also the local news oublished herein. All rights of publicati special dispatches he 8¢ 80¢ erein The Young Orators. More than two million young men and women in every part of the United States are taking part in the elimina- tion trials which precede the selection of winners for competition in the Na- tional Oratorical Contest finals, held | here in the Spring. In this district alone | there are thousands, for while one comes to know only the champions in the ten districts of this area, those champions have in turn defeated many aspirants before qualifying themselves for the semi-final trials which will eliminate a}} but one of them. ‘The magnitude and far-reaching im- portance of this annual event is real- ized by attempting to visualize these two million and more young men and women, all of them displaying interest enough to prepare themselves and courage enough to memorize and de- liver their orations. The choice of the final winners is the most negligible part of the whole business. There is always an element of chance in any race. The hundreds of thousands who are elimi- nated are dropped for the sake of the | contest alone. Their elimination counts nothing against them. Who can tell how many young minds and young lives have been awakened and prepared for valuable careers by the interest en- gendered through taking only a minor part in this contest? One must not conclude that training in oratory is the sole purpose of the contest, although it is best known as a test in oratory, and the ‘best orator probably stands the highest chances of winning. A knowledge of how to con- duct one's self standing up is valu- able. 'Few possess it. But those who take a part in the contests have learned something far more valuable than oratory. They have been taught research. They have been taught study. ‘They have been taught composition. And, best of all, they have been taught | to think and to draw their conclusions based on thought. “The Constitution lends itself easily to | by his friend, Judge Olvany. But the | seems to have been regarded in the | mo., 8100 | THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, MARCH 17, / 1929—PART 2. according to the Scripture, “six hundred vears old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.” Those waters “pre- vailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” They rose to prevail “fif- teen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.” Much disputation has been caused by the difficulty of accept- ing the cubit unit of roughly twenty- four inches to account for an ark three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, and large enough, in those dimensions, to hold two each of all the known animals and birds, “every living thing of all flesh.”” These difficulties— save that pertaining to Noah's age— may be resolved by the demonstration, fact. local and not universal. Science takes no part in the discus- sion, but simply presents facts and sug- | gests deductions to be drawn from them. Prof. Woolley is content to find eight-foot deposit of silt that tells of a tremendous flood, and let the controver- slalists carry on the argument et —t—— Tammany's Leadership. Judge George W. Olvany, widely hailed as the leader of the “new™ Tam- many, has handed in his resignation. The reason given by him is the condi- tion of his health and the advice of his physicians. His resignation, apparently, is & real surprise to the Tammany lead- ers themselves. Tammany leaders in the past have died in harness or they have retired to: is a comparatively young man and has | been leader of Tammany Hall for the last four years, His conduct of Demo- cratic political affairs in Manhattan met with much success—until the recent presidential election. when with former Gov. Smith, himself a Tammany sa- chem, the organization failed to roll up the huge plurality in New York City upon which the Democratic leaders had counted. As a consequence, New York State falled to cast its electoral vote for Gov. Smith, its favorite son, although it re-elected Senator Royal 8. Copeland, a Democrat, and elected Franklin D. Roosevelt governor to succeed Gov. Smith. Immediately there were rum- blings. The charge was made in some quarters that Tammany had actually “cut” Gov. Smith, that some of the low- er Tammany leaders and some of the rank and file had an idea that the gov- ernor had become too “high hat." But this charge was promptly denied by Judge Olvany himself, who insisted that the Tammany organization had supported Gov. Smith loyally in the | campaign and on election day. Judge Olvany, when he arrived in Houston, Tex., last June to attend the Democratic national convention, an- nounced that New York's Democracy had as its candidate for the presiden- tial nomination a second Abraham Lin- coln, a man who was close to the peo- ple, Alfred E. Smith. The influence of the Tammany organization had been exerted far and wide to bring about the nomination of Mr. Smith, and how ef- fectively, the outcome of the national convention indicated clearly. Under these circumstances, it might | be expected that Gov. Smith would be the selection of Tammany to take the leadership which is now to be vacated if it be effected, that the deluge was, in | live on their incomes. Judge Olvany | that time, minds, when the motor car was judged a crazy sort of contraption, to daredevils, and the horse, wh._‘h"v.he motorist was loudly and universally ad- vised to “get,” was considered normal transportation. One seems also to recollect something about the foolish= ness of steam for vessels unless backed up with a suit of sails in reserve. It is stated that if Charles Evans Hughes, United States member of the Court, should fly across the Atlantic to reach The Hague he would forfeit his holiday because the journey would oc- cupy far less than five days. Of course, Mr. Hughes will probably never do just that thing, but some day—and that day |i8 not nearly so far off as many imagine | —transatlantic flights will be as com- mon as lengthy land flights now are. Furthermore, ocean water travel may be so0 speeded up that a voyage from New York to Holland will occupy less than this space of time. Aviation is with us, and no pro- nouncement of any court can render it anything but normal, even though it at- tempts in this matter to go “back to normalcy.” Probably today the Court is rot far from correct, but it is fun to look forward to normalcy, too. This whole idea will one day seem as quaint as the railroad mileage collected by our Congressmen that were for long based on the earlier stage-coach tariffs. . The Airport Inquiry. While another session of Congress has adjourned without decisive action on the important undertaking of pro- viding the Capital of the United States with a fitting airport, the adoption of the Vandenberg resolution by Senate and House at least indicates good in- tentions to give the whole subject the thorough study that it deserves. There were dangerous indications, at one time, that the airport proposal was to be re- garded as & ‘municipal problem—mu- nicipal in the sense that it only affected the municipality and therefore should be paid for by the municipality. The Vandenberg resolution calls for an in- quiry into the requirements of the Fed- eral Departments of War, Navy, Post ©Office and Commerce, as well as the re- quirements of the municipality, for a landing fleld and other airport equip- ment, While the inquiry may reveal inter- esting data concerning the use and bens efits of an airport, and its importance to these agencies, it should also develop the fact that an airport in Washington is to be the Capital City airport and its development as such is of relatively minor importance as concerns the com- munity of Washington alone. It is no more a local problem than the dredging of the Potomac harbor and the river channel leading to Washington is a local problem. Opening the channels of the air to traffic and commerce will eventually be regarded in the same light as river and harbor improvement, or the development of inland waterways. The establishment of airports is a first step in developing for commerce the facili- ties for aerial navigation. Adoption of the Vandenberg resolu- tion is far more satisfactory to the Dis- trict than would have been hasty action on a project that in some quarters | | | | | generalizationd, But these young stu- | Teports from New York today show that | same light s a street paving or sewer dents of the Constitution cannot gen- | Not only is Gov. Smith's name ot in- | extension program. eralize too much. They must study one H phase of the Constitution and get some cluded in the list of “possibilities” for the leadership, but that there would be B A Los Angeles physician sccused of meat out of it. They must find out|actual hostility to his election as Tam- | selling drugs sends a shudder through what lay behind it and why the found- | many leader. This seems to bear out in | the world. The profession of medicine ing fathers included it. Their study ne- part the charge that Tammany as a is regarded with great idealism, and cessitates - some . knowledge of history, | Whole did not give Gov. Smith its hearty | that @ doctor could so betray a patient sociology, philosophy arA civies. What | support in the presidential election. | is begond ordinary comprehension. they learn will probably stick with them. Their knowledge should help in a coun- try whose teeming millions are too apt to regard theé Constitution as a scrap | of paper which modern developments have relegated to a dusty pigeonhole somewhere under the Capitol dome. ————— It is easy to criticize the police at long range and in general terms. A man-to- man argument with a traffic cop is a different matter. s ey SRS The Flood of 4000 B.C. Archeological discoveries in Mesopo- tamia, where excavations have been in Former Judge Jeremiah T. Mahoney, who has quite recently resigned from the New York Supreme Court, is men- tioned prominently as the probable suc- cessor of Judge Olvany. Gov. Smith is for the present out of public life. This does not mean that he is out of politics. Indeed, there are many of his friends who insist that four years hence he will be stronger than ever with the electorate and that his renomination for the presidency and his election will follow. The fact that Gov. Smith was intimately associated with Tammany Hall was used against him in the last campaign with much effect in many parts of the country. If ] SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Good Reading. T seek no poet's gentle song. No essayist on right and wrong Leads me a book at night to keep Until I read myself to sleep— Since April days are coming back, I turn unto my almanac. For here I find no reference To human problems so intense. The tendency of thought it sets Toward mocking birds and violets, progress for many years, and in recent | po ghoylq become leader of Tammany, it | And Summer speeding down the track— times persistently and extensively, have brought to light evidences of the man- | ner of the lives of ancients of whom the Scriptuses tell. The latest find is believed to be the sediment deposited by the deluge of which Noah and his family were the sole human survivors, Prof. C. Leonard Woolley has just re- turned from the scene of explorations with an account of the discovery that is certain to start a lively disputation, run- ning perhaps even to the point of an active renewal of the fundamentalism versus evolution debate. According to Prof. Woolley digging in the valley of the Euphrates has yielded unmistakeble proof that some time back, perhaps as remote as 4000 B.C., & great flood occurred in that region, covering an immense area of the land, and so violent in its first stage as to|den inundation. Conservation is a val- | pour in upon the lower region a deposit of #ilt and clay that nc, after centuries of consolidation and turial, is eight feet in depth. This, he L:ijeves, after care- fully noting the litcrature of the Su- merians, early occupants of the Eu- phrates Valley, whose legends connote with the biblical account of the Noahic flood, was none other than the deluge which, according to Genesis, was sent for the destructicn of mankind in pun- ishment for gross wickedness, with the exception of a single family. Literal interpreters of the scriptural account, given in Genesis, believe that this inundation covered the world as| it is known today. Geologists and arche- ologists believe that it was confined to 8 comparatively narrow area, probably the watershed of a single river system, such as the Euphrates, then a mighty stream, far greater than it is mdnyv‘ Prof. Woolley's discovery shows that! there was undoubtedly a deluge of the latter character, at some date that can- not precisely or with better than ap- proximation be determined, in the Eu- phrates Valley. That it was of propor- tions justifying the immediate bellef in the inundation of the “world” is sug- gested by the extent of the silt deposit and other signs that the sweep of waters caught an extensive civilization unpre- pared and destroyed it. Much controversy has raged about the “flood"” described in Genesis. Much de- bate has been had regarding the size of Noah's ark, and the depth of the waters, seems quite clear that his presidential aspirations, if he still has them. would suffer thereby. Much has been said and written about the “new” Tammany, on the theory that a more idealistic organization has been erected on the foundations of the old. Judge Olvany has been responsitle in good part for the claim that the Tam- many Tiger has reformed. The future conduct of Tammany will be followed with no small public interest. Living down a reputation is one of the most difficult tasks in the world. ——at—————— Frequent flood disasters call for | renewed protest by conservationists against deforestation, which destroys the growth designed by nature to check the flow of water so as to prevent sud- uable word whether used in reference to ofl or water. —— et ‘Mexican rebels are reviving the war axiom that under certain circumstances a leader is entitled to the praise of his troops for conducting a successful re- treat. L e mm— Forward to Normaley. There is probably a good future laugh concealed in a bit of news emanating from Geneva to the effect that airplane travel is “not a normal means of transportation.” It appears that the Permanent Court for International Justice has ruled that any judge thereof living five days or more distant from The Hague “by normal travel” will be entitled to a month's vacation every three years, and the solemn agreement that air travel would not be considered normal followed. Ratlroads and steam- boats are adjudged to be normal. | Will Rogers, that ardent and in-| cessant booster for air transportation, ! and possibly a certain youthful Reserve colonel would laugh themselves almost to | death at this right now. Certain is it that some day it will be laughed at gen- | erally. The mind turns back to the time when eminent sclentists declared | | that had the Lord intended man to fly ‘ He would have equipped him with | wings; to the time when similar great |intellects stated unhesitatingly that a railroad speed of twenty miles an hour or more would work destruction on the ‘ and their duration. Nosh himself was, human fraofs and nervous system; to 1 walt and read my almanac. Inconsiderate Fish. “Did you find out any solution for public questions on your last fishing trip?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “Just when I thought I had found the answer to some great problem a fish took the bait and spolled the continuity of thought.” Jud Tunkins say friendship is like wine. You must be satisfied with the vinegar when an old friend has gone | sour. Faclal Expressions. “You say dancing convinces you of feminine superiority?” “Yes,” answered Miss Cayenne. “I study facial expressions. When I see & dancing couple the girl always looks rather wise and the man entirely fool- ish.” “Fortunate, indeed,” said Hi Ho, “Is the man who can count his servants as friends.” The Last Word. My Radio—My Radio, I venture comments free. I think I'm kidding you—I know ‘That you are kidding me. “De hoss I bets on always seems to stop still,” sald Uncle Eben. “He never ain’ no race hoss. He's jes’ an innocent bystander.” MICROTORIAL Gowns of Gold. The British fashions, we are told, Bring more expense today. A new gown must be purest gold, Placed neatly by a spray; And when an escort goes to roam With some fair lass of rank, He'll say, “Now shall T take her home Or cash her at the bank?” The Alabama Flood. Life cannot all be gladness. Let's pause to give a thought To Alabama’s sadness By.ruthless Nature brought. The world will hold new beauty, As Courage gives command, To heed the call of Dut; And lend a helping suited only still fresh in millions of Bishop of “Whom sa e that I am?"— Matthew, mxlls.v “The Great Query.” At a crisis in His ministry Jesus asked His disciples, “'Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” He seemed to want to know what the prevailing public opinion was concerning Him. In answer to this query His disciples responded, “'Some say Thou art Elijah, and others, {one of the prophets.” Pressing the ques- ! tion'more definitely upon those who had ‘been assoclated with Him, He asked, | “Whom say ye that I am?"” It was the supreme test. They had been with Him, had heard His marvelous words, and wit- nessed His mighty service to men. They had had an opportunity that had not |been afforded to others to appraise the full worth of His ministry. What He would know was, what did His life mean to them personally? It was natural that Peter, the impulsive, should an- swer Him, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.” The query that Christ addressed to His disciples is one that calls for an answer from every one before whom He stands in His sovereign role as Savior and Master of men. The distinguished Frenchman, Amiel, once said, “Men think that they can do without religion. They do not know that religion is in- destructible, and that the question is, which one they will have?” Amonf the world’s great ethical and spiritual lead- ers Jesus Christ stands unchallenged and incomparable. “Higher has human thought not reached” is Carlyle's esti- mate of Him. Universally He occupies a place utterly unique. That He is “the mightiest among the mighty” is the world's opinion concerning Him. The place He occupies according to the uni- versal judgment is one thing, the rela- tion He bears to us individually and our estimate of Him is quite another. The poet Oxenham, in his splendid verse, declares, “Not_what, but whom I do belleve, For Christ is more than all the creeds.” That much of our religious thinking is in too general terms, that it makes us not one of the mass, is too common. 1 EVERYDAY RELIGION BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, Washington It is an impersonal, and hence inef- fective, religlous conviction that many of us hold. If the gospels set forth any one thing it is the necessary relation that Christ bears to each individual |disciple. 1In fine, the Christian religion casual study of the gospels makes this abundantly evident. The major portion of the ministry of Jesus was to indi- viduals. No religlous teacher has ever | appraised so highly as did He the worth | of the individual life. So strong was! the ccnvietion in the mind of Paul of | the relation that Christ bore to his life that he declared, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” That our esti- mate of Christ's relation to us is a de- termining factor in our thinking and practice is conspicuously evident. Let me regard Him simply as one of the great religious teachcrs who belong to the remote past, let me think of Him in terms of other great outstanding re- ligious leaders and His influence upon me is comparable to that of any other teacher whose ghuosophy of life I ad- mire. Let me think of Him as one who relates himself to my individual inter- ests and concerns, who demands my obedience and seeks my companionship, my comrade of the highway, and He becomes my intimate friend, my guide and my Redeemer, “What think ye of Christ?” is an in- timate and personal question. At some time—yes, frequently—it demands an an- swer from each one of us. It is strange how frequently we defer the answer until a crisis arises. It is then in our anguish of mind and our confusion that we cry out, “Lord, to whom shall we 80? Thou alone hast the words_ of eternal life.”” Nothing is more pathetic or tragic in our time than the dissatis- faction and discontent that arises out of an unstable and unsatisfying re- ligious conviction. Some one calls this “a wistful age.” It is more than that, it is a restless and dissatisfied age. Men and women are groping, groping for something to give them stability and assurance, and all the while the Master of men is on the open highway saying, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” BY WILLIAM HARD. The end of the first fortnight of the | voyage of the Hoover administration | finds the captain’s hand firmly and de- cisively on the tiller. A lot of people | may not like the course the ship is | steering. Nobody denies that the ship is being steered. | Hoover is on the bridge in oilskins, | and likes the job. A visitor asked him | how he was enjoying it. He said, “I'll | get the feel of the ropes in a few days,” | and grinned like a boy with his first earned dollar. The executive wing of the White | House has an air of easy serenity. The President's desk is as unlittered as it was under Coolidge. The press confer- ences have been familiarly expanded. | Twice & day George Akerson, one of the President's secretaries, submits himself to the questionings of the correspond- ents. He is undoubtedly the original author of the sentiment that “all is well.” He is the only known Norseman | with an Irish temperament. If all | Scandinavians had been like him Ibsen would have been ruined through having no gloom for his plays. Akerson tells the correspondents the news, morning | and afternoon, with the air of a happy | hunter halloing the hounds onward. * ok K % Lawrence Richey, the President’s | other secretary, has thrown all the filing boxes out of a front room and has es- tablished himself in it in spaciousness and orderliness and peace. He has quiet and unobtrusive missions. He looks aft- er correspondence, but also goes on | political and other deep errands. The wags call Akerson the glad-hand secre- tary and Richey the black-hand secre- tary. Akerson is right there in full view and keeps the sky shining. Richey tinkers—so to speak—with the insides of the clock, and carefully pockets the key to it, and radiates genial reticence as Akerson radiates genial news items, Yo N i ‘To Mr. Akerson and Mr. Richey—as the third side of the equilateral tri- angle of the Hoover secretariat—is now added Mr. Walter H. Newton, recruited from the House of Representatives, where he long has represented the Min- nesota fifth district, situated in Minne- apolis. Mr. Newton is thus, in a wa: linked to Mr. Akerson, who is a Mi neapolitan, too. His duties in the fleld of the and_reorganizing of the activities of the Federal Govern- ment's ‘“executive departments” and “independent establishments” will d mand a mind—and a familiar intimacy with Mr. Hoover's mind. Mr. Newton has both. He is an “inside Hooverite.” * Wok» In the room next to Richey's are three of the positive pivots of the administra- tion—Miss Shankey, Miss McGrath and Miss Eastman. They have been han- dling Hoover letters for a long, long time, and they could tell everything and do tell nothing. The beaver is their, emblem and the clam is their motto. They are persons of high character and of tried character. In a word, Mr. Hoover has taken with him into the White House six familiar faces—six trusted and trustworthy per- sonalities—Mr. ~Akerson, Mr. Richey, Mr. Newton, Miss Shankey, Miss Mc- Grath and Miss Eastman—who bring to him in his néw dutles all the ease of long acquaintanceship and of old times. There has been no break in the continuity of his intimate “official fam- ily.” He is no fish out of water. He has taken the aquarium bowl with him. T ‘This is characteristic of him and fundamental to his method. He is al- ways expanding his contacts. He almost never drops any of them. He rolls onward, not like a& hoop, but like a snowball. Twice a week he now prepares him- self to give answers to inquisitive cor- respondents on major questions of na- tional policy. Mr. Akerson’s twice-a- | day interviews with the press are dedi- cated to immediate spot news. Mr. Hoover's twice-a-week conferences are supposed also to include the possibility of informing the public on policies and issues. ugh Mr. Akerson Mr. Hoo- ver has earnestly and diligently re- ?nes'/ed the correspondents to write out for him the deepest questions they can and please, to write them out 24 hours ahead of time in order that he may have an evening to give to pondering them before answering them. “He takes this task extremely seriously and he prepares his answers—his written an- swers—with the most laborious care, He then, as the public will have noted, Pathetic, street-worn, Hoover’s Hand Is Steady on The Helm of Ship of State takes full and absolute responsibility for them by permmlng the correspond- ents to quote them from him within direct quotation marks. * X ok % This new system of presidential di- rect responsible quoted interviews is a symbol of the whole new Hoover presi- dential situation. The new President has established the conservation of oil in the Interior Department by a direct and open move from the White House. He has established a certain measure | of publicity for income-tax refunds in the Treasury Department through a di- | rect presidential executive order. He has thrown the support of the American Government to the Mexican government in its hour of domestic dif- ficulty by action in harmony indeed with State Department tradition, but carrying with it direct White House authority and weight. He 1is about to investigate law en- forcement, not through the Bureau of Prohibition and not through the De- partment of Justice, but through a di- rectly presidential commission. & & Mr. Hoover is wholly discarding the myth that presidential departmental appointees undertake major administra- tive actions on their own responsibility. He is taking the responsibility himself. That is where it actually inwardly is, and Hoover is taking it outwardly and completely. It seems to be a refreshment to him to be no longer a subordinate. As Sec- retary of Commerce he had to worry about whether his policies would be congruous with the policies of his chief. | In loyalty to his chief, he was always narrowing and even suppressing his policies in order to be in harmony with his chief’s needs and with the needs of the cabinet as a whole. He did this with a fidelity which Mr. Coolidge in- tensely appreciated. Nevertheless, fretted him. His initiative was checked. His wings could not be fully spread. His rn):{lne‘n would %un then stand out. upon very ruffied and very dis- tressed in his silences and in hlrayobvl» ?aulfly distracted medi N ions. His men- manner was one of anxiety. People fell into the habit of saying uin mfi)&e White House he would worry himself to death, * koK ok opposite has happened. was manifestly what this man wanted. "It was the prescription for what ailed him. His feathers now le perfectly sleek upon him. His nerv- ousness seems all gone. He stands on the bridge and looks at the waves with actual delight. They are his waves now. No longer does he have to ‘whisper suggestions into the captain's ears. He can himself now directly pull the han- dles that convey the commands to the steering apparatus and to the engine room. He can, and does, and will, and when he heads the boat into the waves his eyes show gravity, but—to tell the truth, as reported by all observers of him—they also show clear happiness nng_helluon. s g e _sum of rst fortnight CP}f:kf M‘:Il.!tl'lutunihh: ke e or nof e it, we've helmsman who does like it md"gh: isn't one bit afrald of the helm. (Copyright, 1929.) ) Lessened Farm Population New Factor in Agriculture The exact Responsibility BY HARDEN COLFAX. Decreasing farm population and a smaller acreage under cultivation. form no alleviation of the agricultural prob- lem which the special session of Con- gress will attempt to solve by legislation next month. Although the Department of Agri- culture this week made public estimates that the farm population on January 1 was the smallest in 20 years, the fact is that higher efficiency in operation is flusmg a steady increase in productiv- ty. Not only has the productivity per farm worker increased about 15 per cent in the last 10 years, but the average vield per acre in major crops has mounted due to better methods of selec- ;k‘m, cultivation, harvesting and market- n The department estimates a farm population of 27,511,000 on January 1, contrasted with 27,699,000 a year be- fore, and with a count of 28,981,000 in B —————— To a Stray Dog. timid, friendless thing! is the religion of a person. The most | 2 it | Oblivious of passersby, you peer Into yon open cafe door in fear, Yet goaded by dire need. Your sorrows bring Unbiddep tears—unknown to you—who owe Not any man, nor are at fault for aught. Your grateful eyes are eloquent for what Is yours by right. You barter not your woe For gain, nor ask for alms, or charity, Mute, unimbittered in your penury. Perhaps you knew the penalty for trust In men—preferring want—till hunger thrust You forth. “No pedigree?” stern Justice saith. “Your crime is poverty—your sentence, death.” ~ELIZABETH THOMPSON, | . . . Capital Sidelights | BY WILL P. KENNEDY. | ‘There is operated In the Government Printing Office an apprentice school for the proper training of skilled workers, | which is now in its sixth year. This school began on July 5, 1922, with the instruction of a class of 25 apprentices, the number then limited by law. On recommendation of the public printer, Congress increased the limita- tion to allow the employment of 200 apprentices under the act of February , 1923. Since then the number of apprentices under fraining has been maintained at approximately the maxi- mum number. These apprentices have been assigned to the several trades. including printers, bookbinders, pres: men, stereotypers, elcctrotypers, photo engravers and machinists, Sixty-eight apprentices satisfactorily completed the first four-year courses re- quired to qualify them for appointment as journeymen. Of- these, 63 are now employed in the Gévernment Printing Office and are reputed to be among tho | best qualified and most industrious journeymen in the office. Public Printer Carter says that “no better or more dili- gent group of ambitious young men has ever entered any school in the country than those who have chosen to begin | their life’'s work in the Government | Printing Office.” ¥ The widespread and inspiring interest | in this school manifest throughout the | country has been shown by the fact that | more than 800 young men from all| parts of the United States enrolled at the last Civil Service examination for | apprentices. To date, 333 npprentlcns; have been enrolled in this school, in- cluding those now in training and those who have completed the cousse or | left the school. Graduation exereises are held. On January 13, 1928, the | public printer handed to 60 of the ap- prentices their certificates as journey- men entitling them to employment in their chosen trades in the Government | Printing Office. Wi The lunch and cafeteria problem is a big one in practically all of the muiti- farfous Government workshops in the National Capital. Many of these estab- | lishments have cafeterias for their em- | ployes either in the bullding or have | arranged with private parties to operat a lunchroom convenient for the Gov ernment workers, because some of the establishments with hundreds and even thousands of employes are some dis- tance removed from, the business thoroughfares. Perhaps the largest and most succe: ful of these cafeterias run by an el ployes’ volunteer association is in the Government Printing Office, where there are 4,076 workers with a pay roll of | $8.541,605 a year. During the past vear this cafeteria served 840,410 orders of food, which was an increase of 34,000 | orders over the preceding vear and an | increase of 56,000 over two years ago ‘The daily average number of orders was 2,609 and the largest number served in any one day during the year was 3,236. The gross receipts of the cafeteria and the Recreation Association for the past year were $221.766, which is an increase of about $10,000. All of the operating expenses of the cafeteria, in- cluding the cost of all materials and the wages of 56 employes, is paid from the receipts. The employes’ association has expended $24,000 for ‘replacements” and improvements in cafeteria and kit- chen equipment originally installed by the Government at & cost of about $45,000. The cafeteria association also finances all the recreational and entertainment activities of the Government Printing Office, including two champlonship base ball teams, four regulation bowling al- leys and numerous programs of enter- | tainment and instruction in Harding Hall, which have an average attendance of more than 3.000 persons. One of the principal entertainments is an annual Christmas tree for more than 2,000 chil- dren of employes. | { 1925. 'The census of 1920 disclosed a farm population of 31,614,000, but this included probably several hundred thou- ands who lived in villages and who were excluded from the 1925 figures and subsequent estimates. oo | The peak of farm population was reached in 1910, when it is estimated there were 32,076,000 persons on farms in the United States. There have been fluetuations since then, but a general tendency to decrease, accentuated in the last 10 years in particular. |, Statistics disclose a story of migration from ~agricultural sections, however, which does not establish a theory that the rate of decrease in farm population has a direct relation to depression in the prices of farm products. Some States began to lose farmers as far back as 1880—the abandoned farm is not a re- cent development of American life. Not only has there been a decrease in farm population, but the acreage un- der the plow, and otherwise in actual use, has decreased. From 1919 to 1924, the last perfod for which definite fig- ures are available, there was a decrease of 13,000,000 acres in crop land. Yet crop production is 5 per cent higher than in 1919. Horses and mules are decreasing on the farms; tractors are increasing. Electricity and the gasoline engine per- form much labor formerly done by hand. The combine, introduced first in the great grain fields of the Middle West, has marched eastward and is no novelty on the Atlantic seaboard. Bet- ter seed 1s being planted; more pro- ductive live stock fills the pastures and feeding yards. In 1910 there were 217~ 000,000 apple trees in the country. The total has declined to around 138,000,- 000, but commercial production of apples has increased through better selection, i Many of the changes in agriculture are due to shifts in crops. and other- wise. While since the war upward of 13,000,000 acres have gone out of use, the substitution of mechanical for animal power on the farms has resulted in releasing about 20,000,000 acres of crop land foemerly required to feed horses and mules. “The difference is a net gain for production of crops for human consumption. About a third of the increase in crop output in the last decade is nmbutedp to higher yields per acre, due to more scientific farming. In considering farm relief legislation or other aspects of the agricultural problem there is no necessity for im- mediate fear that the urban population may starve from lack of food from the farms. Prices, admittedly, may increase, and | probably will. The best farm lands may be in use, but there are about 600,000,000 acres available for the plow or for pasture which can be brought under cultivation—and this without de- veloping any irrigation projects or other expensive works. e Furthermore, Department of Agri- culture figures show that in the last 40 years the average yleld per acre of wheat in the United " States has in-: creased 17 per cent: potatoes, 39 per cent; corn, 18 per cent, and oats, 14 per cent. And contrary to the general impression the greatest gains in yields have been in the older sections cast of the Mississippi River. ‘War demand for agricultural products caused crop land to be brought in at 8 rate of about 10 years ahead of the natural increase. The present reces- slon in cultivation appears to be mere- ly a lag to permit demand to overtake supply. e move for legislation to help stabilize agriculture is the result of production of crops in excess of domes- tic demand. The exportable surplus causes the rub. And while average yield | per acre has increased, the surplus of | farm products, and hence the violent price fluctuations, are due largely to| variations between seasons in the yield per acre rather than to differences in acreage planted in specific crops, the 1 Winter Killing of Fur Animals BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Higher prices for the better furs may | quite possibly be expected in view of | the low temperatures of the Winter of | 1928-29 and of the recent discoveries | of the United States Biological Survey. The survey has found that there has been a steady depletion in the supply of | the more famous small fur bearers of | Northern regions because of the hunting | and trapping activities prompted by the ' commercial demand for pelts. Also, it is a known fact of natural history that in certain bitter seasons—usually oc- surring many years apart- large num- | ber of the fur bearers either starv to death or are so weakened by starva- tion that they freeze to death. | Year year the demand for furs has in: d. Furs have always bpen in de- | mand. The cave man uscd them. As| the wealth of the world increased | through the centurfes more people | could afford to buy them. But the| principal increase in the market may » ascribed to the fact that in the last 100 years the population of the world has doubled and the Northern peoples have had their share of the gain in numbers. More people with more money | are demanding furs, and where the gold exists to make payment, hunters and trappers will risk many perils and dangers to take them. Crowning all this now comes the severest Winter within the memory of the living. True, Europe has suffered greater extremities of cold than North America, long known all over the world as the “fur countries,” but commerce now is so organized that where there is a shortage anywhere in the world it will be met by some other part. North America has by no means entire- ly escaped. Within recent weeks cold waves of exceptional intensity have been authentically reported from the West- ern regions of the United States and from Canada. Seventy-five feet of snow has been reported from the Colorado canyons. Coldest Winter in Years. No living person remembers the ca- nals of Veglc‘; frozen over and gondolas breaking their way through ice. No one living remembers the Riviera and the cities of sunny Italy, where the world of fashion resorts for natural warmth during the Winter months, covered with a heavy blanket of snow. Reports from Europe suggest that the modern man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo, for this year at least, will prove to he old Man Winter. The thought of the mosques of Constantinople mantled with snow and blizzards sweeping the Golden Horn is scarcely tenable, yet the fact is true. Estimates of human deaths from cold and from the attacks of Winter wolves, savage from hunger, vary from 10,000 to 100,000. Even here airplanes have been used to transport food to utterly snowbound villages. In such a situation, what has been the effect on the Northern dwelling ani- mals? According to the Biological Sur- vey they have a difficult time even in normal Winters. The Arctic fox often starves unless fortunate enough to find a stranded whale. But, being a fox and therefore a canny creature, he usually makes shift to last through.” One of his devices is to follow a polar bear and pick up a meager living from the scraps of seal and other aquatic meat which the bear has lefl. Even this is getting to be a more meager resource. The Arctic explorers of the MacMillan expe- dition reported that observations would seem to indicate that the polar bear is passing through a peried of evolution and is becoming more and more an aquatic creature. He can :wim for ap- parently unlimited periods and ulti- mately_may evolve into a sort of sea bear. The Arctic fox is not so good a swimmer, so the resource of dining on the polar bear's leaving. may give out. ‘The wolverine is one of the cléverest of the Northern fur bearcrs during a hard Winter. He learns where the hunters set their traps and knows what the traps are. He warily makes the rounds. If he is lucky Le will find some creature already caught and devour him. If not he is smart enough to know how to eat the bait without himself being entrapped. Wild Animals Succumb. Such straits indicate that, at best, these creatures must put up a constan® battle for life. When a Winter like the passing one comes they die by the hun- dreds if not by the thousands. The lesser creatures on which they prey are starved or frozen to death and their food is gone. "The survey notes the important fur bearers which are rapidly disappearing because of the resistance to their exist- ence of man on the one hand and Win- ter on the other. Here are the creatures whoc~ Jdisap- pearance is especially marked The Arctic weasel or ermine, which lives largely on mice, and the fur of which has long béen the special fur of kings and actresses. The gray fox, which is the most stupid of the breed of reynard, perhaps because of its compensating ad- vantage of being able to climb trees. The red fox, which feeds on small ani- mals and birds, few of which could possibly survive the rigors of such & Winter as this. The Arctic fox, which is brownish in Summer but pure white in Winter and is much prized. The kit fox, which has been rare for a long time. The spotted skunk, an -omnivorous creature, but nevertheless disappearing. ‘The following fur bearers may be added to the list: The ring-tailed cat or civet cat, which has an unusually long and beautiful tail. It inhabits desert places and makes its lair in mountain caves. The marten, espe- cially valuable because it is the Ameri- can sable and ranges the bitterly cold country on a line north of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The fisher, which stays even farther north, being rarely seen south of a line from Nova Scotia to British Columbta. Especially unfortunate in exceptionally cold Winters are the otters, who live on fish. If ice forms so thick that their food is deeply buried and inaccessible, they are doomed. The fur of the sea otter is by many regarded as the finest in the world. It haunts the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, ranging southward to California at times. The extent of the Winter killing of these animals cannot be guessed at un- til the next season, but there is évery reason to believe it will prove large, and the Blological Survey regards it as far from impossible that some of these specles may become extinct. . Fifty Years Ago In The Star Fifty years ago Washington was filled with applicants for office, incident to the reorganization of Officeseekers the Dsennu. uwgsh 2 a1 the Democra . in Collision. troneq ater a long period of Republican majorities. The Star of March 13, 1879, has the follow- ing whimsical account of this conges- tion and conflict: v “The reports afloat of a loss of life in the collision upon the Avenue today were exaggerations, though no doubt many were seriously, if not fatally, in- jured. It seems that a large party of Kentucky officeholders, by the Metro- politan road, hurrying down Loulsiana avenue, collided in front of the market with _several thousand from Virginia coming up Seventh street. At the same time a heavy delegation from Baltimore, by the Potomac road, and another Maryland squad, by the Baltimore & Ohio road, converged upon the same point and attempted to force their way through the conglomerated Virginians and Kentuckians. The con= |fusion was increased by the arrival of several squads of excited applicants seeking the lodgings of various Sena- tors and who tried to make their way through the crowd at any hazard. The open space in front of the market and upon all the intersecting streets was now filled with the struggling mass of many thousand officeseekers and the scrimmage for a time was furious. The number of wounded taken to the neigh- boring drug stores probably gave rise to the reports of loss of life, but when the police finally succeeding in break- ing up the blockade, though the streets were strewn thickly with locks of hair, wigs, bourbon bottles, false teeth, crutches, ends of thumbs, gouged-out eyes, etc., and were rather slippery with gore, no corpses were to be found. So if any were killed the clans must have carried off their dead. | ‘Later there was a report that the officeseekers had succeeded in overpow- ering the police on guard at Senator Gordon's lodgings and had forced their | way into his sick chamber. Another re- port was to the effect that a Kentucky | Senator had been compelled to make his | escape from his house in disguise, and that several other Senators were flying for their lives. “The officeseekers are infuriated by the reported discovery that under the rules of the Senate none of the sub- Ordinate officers of that body can be removed except by the consent of Vice President Wheeler. This they consider to be a flimsy pretext, put forth by the Senators to avoid importunities for of- fice. Altogether this has been a day of alarm in Washington, and it is feared that the worst has not been reached, as every train brings fresh arrivals of officeseekers with the desperation of | famine stamped upon their brows.” * = In its issue of the following day, March 14, 1879, The Star has this fur- ther to say editorially re- Senate garding the rush for Sen-| Offices. ate offices: “Some of the rural gen- tlemen who are here looking for places pronounce office ‘orifice,” and they are not much out of the way in the dic-| tionary definition of the word as an aperture, or opening, to be filled. The reported discovery that the Senate of- fices cannot be converted into. ‘orifices’ to be filled except upon the written ap- proval of Vice President Wheeler car- ried consternation at first to the fam- ished horde of applicants, but they now take courage with the assurance that the Senate will probably rescind this/ rule giving the Vice President these troublesome restrictive powers, But will this be done? The Senate is ONServa- tive body, with a liking to have things! comfortable, orderly and dignified. | “The awful mess into which the last House put itself by turning out the old | experienced employes to give place to a greedy crowd of officeseekers is a warn- ing that quite likely will not be lost| upon the Senate. Moreover, that body is not in the habit of making sweeping changes in its official corps. Mr. sett, the white-headed old doorkeeper, has been in the place since the days of Daniel Webster and has had the friendship of all the long line of states- men who have filled the senatorial arm- chairs down to the present time. The Senator who would turn him out to make an opening for some office-hunt- ing galoot would strike his own grand- father. ‘Then there is Doorkeeper yield variations being mainly due to seasonal conditions and therefore be- yond the control of the farmers. (Copyright, 1929.) Christy, who, like ‘Figaro here, Figaro there,” has been an indispensable offi- cer of the Senate. A green hand would have a sorry time of it undertaking to officeseekers | Ing This and That By Charles E. Tracewell. Cats pay little attention to their re- flection in'a mirror. Sometimes a kitten will give a hesitating glance at its wavering image, but for the most part their elders can see nothing in a look- ing glass—not even themselves. Hence the cat Noire constitutes. a* variation in the long line descended from the days of the tian empire. Noire, as her name cates, i5 as black as night. " She is one of the most homely cats ever seen, with few charms other than her bright n eyes. These are all the more brilliant because of contrast with her jet coat, which has a tint of rusty brown in the sun. It is not generally realized that very few black cats are really black. Mostly they have an admixture of brown show- beneath the black, or at the base of the individual hairs, which is easily seen when the creature is in the sun- ht. = * X % X ‘The black cat has an evil reputation, no doubt brought about by its appear< ance, for as far as investigation goes' there is little if any difference between the disposition‘of this variety and those of others. Certanily Noire is one of the best conducted animals in the world. Aside from a most capacious appetite, Noire has little to distinguish her, with the excegltwn of those round green eyes, which gleam out like little lanterns from the night of her silky fur. She is one of the uncomplaining crea- tures of this world. Whatever is, is right, to her. Only she hopes that there will be plenty of good grub. * ko % Yet it would seem that this mourn- ful-looking cat, who seems to have lost her best friend, has & pet weakness. She is vain. Yes, vanity is the weakness of Noire, just as mice constitute the pet hobby of little NipYerA ikes to look at herself in a Noire mirror! Her favorite glass is one atop a chif- fonier, to which dizzy point the cat climbs by way of a rocking chair. L Cats look askance at rocking chairs. ‘When one has hopped up, the chair begins to rock, and, although cats are |good sailors, they much prefer a steady toundation for a jump. 3 L ES 1t is interesting to watch Noire poised on the arm of the chair, balancing her- self for the spring, teetéring gently backwards and forwards. Then up she goes, as light as a feather. Once on the shelf, she will calmly turn around and survey herself in the mirror for minutes at a stretch. Sincs she is such a solemn cat at all times, she is even more so while looking into her own bright eyes in the glass. Probably her eyes are what attract er. She never puts out & paw, or spits, or in any other way manifests her interest, but simply sits there staring at herself. * X ok The glints in those big green eyes glisten in the mirror; eyes reflect eyes; interest gleams to interest, and is com- pounded. When Noire tires of this sport, she lies down, and then is able to see her reflection in another glass across the X -oom. Solemnly the two cats look at each other, a real one and a mirrored one, the intelligence which lies in green eyes looking across at its reflection. Intelligence and fits reflection—who can tell them apart? B A Lot of Jobs Needed. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. By this time, all the persons who took straw votes must have obtained other jobs. fill his place. So, t00, of Chief Clerk Spencer, Executive Clerk Young, En- rolling Clerk Simpson and the other employes who by their intelligence and experience are able to afford so much aid to the creditable performance of senatorial work. A sweeping change in these capable employes for a lot of raw, seedy placehunters would make life mis- erable for Senators, for a while at least. “No doubt Secretary Gorham and Sergeant-ai-Arms French expect to go, as these appointments are reckoned as political, but the subordinate employes ought not to feel that they must in- evitably be displaced to make room for the hungry crew of officeseekers. Be- sides, the swarm of applicants is so great that the Sendte cannot possibly give a place to one out of a thousand. and will offend 999 in any event.” .